St Mary Magdalene's Church, Bolney
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St Mary Magdalene's Church is an
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in the village of
Bolney Bolney is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester, near the junction of the A23 road ...
in Mid Sussex, one of seven
local government districts The districts of England (officially, local authority districts, abbreviated LADs) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there ...
in the English county of
West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
. The
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
, which is dedicated to Jesus' companion
Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...
, serves a large rural parish centred on a village straddling the ancient London–Brighton road and apparently dates from about 1100, and an older origin has been suggested. Many structural additions have been made over the centuries—including a tower built solely using the labour of villagers—and at the entrance to the churchyard is a "magnificent" 20th-century
lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...
made of local materials including
Sussex Marble Sussex Marble is a fossiliferous freshwater limestone material which is prevalent in the Weald Clay of parts of Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex in southeast England. It is also called Petworth Marble, Bethersden Marble or Laughton Stone in relat ...
. The church is protected as a Grade I
Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


History

Bolney is on the ancient London–Brighton road about north of
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
and southeast of the market town of Horsham. The A23 road, main road now bypasses the village to the east. Neither a settlement nor a church was recorded in the Domesday Book, Domesday survey of 1086. The parish was first recorded as ''Bolneya'' or ''Bolne'' in the 13th century, and was one of 12 in the Hundred (county subdivision), Hundred of Buttinghill in the Rape (county subdivision), Rape of Rape of Lewes, Lewes. Despite the absence of earlier written records, some sources date the present church's origins to about 1100, around the start of the Norman conquest of England, Norman era, and most others attribute it to that period without specifying a date. One study, however, suggested an earlier construction date based on the design and decoration of the south doorway, which was stated to have little in common with standard Norman architecture, Norman work: comparisons were drawn instead with similar Anglo-Saxon architecture, Saxon doorways at 8th- to 11th-century churches elsewhere in England and at nearby Wivelsfield. The church was built on hilly ground overlooking Bolney from the south, and was reached by a twitten (a narrow lane) from the village street. The core of the Norman building consisted of a nave, a narrower chancel set at an angle, one window in the east wall and the doorway in the south wall of the nave. To this was added the main east window in the end of the chancel—a large Tracery, traceried window dating from about 1300. The south wall of the chancel has a window of a similar date, and on the same wall is a 13th-century piscina. The next structural alteration, a west tower that "dominates the church", came in 1536–38: the date is known precisely because details of costs and progress were recorded in the churchwarden's record book, which still exists. The churchwarden at the time was John Bolney, also a significant and wealthy landowner in the parish, whose family was long established in the area. Described as the "moving spirit" behind "an inspired community effort involving the whole village", he paid for the tower to be built and arranged for dozens of villagers to use their skills and any money they could offer to quarry the sandstone, cut and shape it, build temporary bridges and paths to transport the material to the church, build tools and wooden scaffolding, and erect the tall, structure at the west end of the church. The project was completed in 1538, and a new west doorway was inserted below John Bolney's coat of arms and the commemorative wording . The church continued to expand as the congregation grew. A west gallery for choristers was inserted in 1670—an early example of the practice, common in Sussex, of building accommodation for a choir at the west end of a church so the congregation could face them when they sang. Organ (music), Organs were sometimes too expensive for churches to buy, so choral music by local singers was often preferred instead. West-end galleries only became prevalent in Sussex churches in the early 18th century, though. A porch was built on the south side in 1718, enclosing the Saxon/Norman doorway; and as part of a Victorian restoration, the capacity was increased in 1853 when the nave was extended with a north aisle. A clock was added to the tower in 1898 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Queen Victoria#Diamond Jubilee, Diamond Jubilee. A vestry was added in 1912, and general work was carried out in the nave and chancel during the 1930s. A modern stained glass window by prolific Sussex-based firm Cox & Barnard was inserted in the south aisle in 1982; it depicts a rural scene. The Huth family were important in church life in the 19th and 20th centuries. Henry Huth (bibliophile), Henry Huth was a Bibliophilia, bibliophile whose enormous collection of rare books was sold for £300,000 in 1910 (£ in ). He lived in an extravagant château-style 1870s house called Wykehurst Place in the parish, and was buried in the churchyard after his death in 1878. In 1905, his son Edward gave the church a large, "magnificent"
lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...
constructed from local materials: oak, millstones from a mill in the parish,
Sussex Marble Sussex Marble is a fossiliferous freshwater limestone material which is prevalent in the Weald Clay of parts of Kent, East Sussex and West Sussex in southeast England. It is also called Petworth Marble, Bethersden Marble or Laughton Stone in relat ...
(a locally quarried limestone) and a Horsham Stone slab roof. It stands at the end of the twitten leading to the churchyard, which has been left slightly overgrown to conserve wildlife. A mid-19th-century rector planted the churchyard and rectory grounds with a wide range of trees, many of which survive—including Pinus wallichiana, Bhutan pines and oaks from Somerset. There are many Victorian tombs and grave-markers in the churchyard, including some rare wooden grave-boards and some with wooden cross-pieces set between stone balls. Another of Huth's sons, Alfred Henry Huth—who also became a book-collector and author, and who died in 1910—is commemorated by a memorial tablet inside the church; its style was described by Nikolaus Pevsner as "neo-late 17th-century".


Architecture

The church consists of a nave, an angled chancel offset slightly towards the north, a tower at the west end, a north aisle, separated from the nave by a three-Bay (architecture), bay pointed-arched arcade, a vestry on the north side and an entrance porch on the south side. There are other entrances in the base of the tower and its stair-turret. The nave is long and wide; the chancel measures and has walls of thickness. They are separated by a chancel arch. The walls are of rubble laid in Course (architecture), courses with sandstone dressings, except for the tower (which is ashlar) and the Victorian north aisle, whose walls are in the style of crazy paving. The east windows in the chancel and north aisle have -tracery, and a small Oculus (architecture), oculus is set below the gable of the chancel wall above the main window. The roof is tiled with Horsham Stone. The two-stage tower has Molding (decorative), mouldings defining its upper and lower stages, and stands on a moulded plinth. Diagonal corner buttresses provide support. A stair-turret topped with a parapet is attached on the north side. The tower itself terminates in a squared-off parapet with "heavy" pinnacles which Nikolaus Pevsner considered to be 17th-century. They are topped by tapering finials with weather vanes. Above the English Gothic architecture#Perpendicular Gothic, Perpendicular Gothic west doorway, which has "nicely carved" and moulded spandrels and a four-centred arch, are John Bolney's coat of arms (whose heraldic description is ''Or (heraldry), Or a Crescent#Heraldry, crescent with two Star (heraldry), molets gules in the Chief (heraldry), chief'') and the inscription which was added in 1538 upon completion of the tower. A peal of eight bells is set in a bell-chamber near the top of the tower, lit by four two-light, flat-arched windows. The church is well known for this large complement of bells and the regular bellringing that takes place, and the ancient pub opposite the church is named ''The Eight Bells'' in recognition of this. The south doorway, described as the "best" and "most interesting architectural feature" of the church, is narrow, tall and surrounded by bands of characteristically Norman Reeding#Architecture, reeding similar to the style of nearby St Peter and St John the Baptist's Church in Wivelsfield. It has a splayed inner archway with re-cut Impost (architecture), imposts. Nine voussoirs make up the arch. The dimensions on the inside are wide, high to the top of the arch and deep. The "extremely interesting" decoration on the exterior consists of carved -shapes (not identical to standard Norman Chevron (insignia), chevron ornamentation) with inward- and outward-facing points at various intervals. A common feature on the south side of ancient churches was a mass dial—a type of sundial that served as a "do-it-yourself clock". They consisted of circular markings engraved in a wall, with lines dividing the hours and a hole in which to place a gnomon or stick. At Bolney there is one scratched into a stone dressing on the southeast side of the nave, and another on the Door jamb, jamb of the south doorway. A large 19th-century sundial is also situated in the gable of the south porch. Inside, there are various plaques and stained glass windows commemorating former parishioners; the coat of arms of Queen Anne, painted on a wooden panel above the chancel arch (a "strangely numerous feature in Sussex", such decorations are uncommon in England as a whole); 17th-century and more recent oak panelling in the sanctuary; and a 20th-century Baptismal font, font.


The church today

St Mary Magdalene's Church was designated a Grade I
Listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
on 28 October 1957. The ecclesiastical parish of Bolney covers a large rural area centred on the village and bisected by the A23 road, A23 and A272 roads. It extends towards the villages of Cowfold, Twineham and Warninglid. Regular Eucharistic and prayer services are held on Sundays and weekdays. The advowson (the right to appoint clergy) was first recorded in 1316, when it was held by a prebendary linked to Chichester Cathedral. In the 19th century it was taken up by the Bishop of Chichester himself; in 1901 it passed to Edward Huth in exchange for the advowson of Etchingham parish in East Sussex. Huth, an alumnus of Exeter College, Oxford, passed it to the college in 1929.


See also

*Grade I listed buildings in West Sussex *List of places of worship in Mid Sussex


External links

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References


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolney, Mary Magdalene 12th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in Mid Sussex District Grade I listed churches in West Sussex